Martha Mine
The Martha Mine (Mine Martha) is New Zealand's largest gold and silver - mine , located near the town of Waihi , at the southern end of the Coromandel Peninsula on the North Island of New Zealand .
The Martha Mine shows the eventful history of gold mining in New Zealand. The mine now supplies around 80% of New Zealand's gold and silver production. Around 240 employees are directly involved in the quarrying and processing of the ore; around 750 more people are indirectly provided with work by the mine.
The old Martha mine
The first gold discoveries were made in New Zealand in 1852: Charles Ring found gold at Kapanga Creek , and the first New Zealand gold rush drew hundreds of gold diggers to the Coromandel Peninsula. In 1878, John McCombie and Robert Lee also discovered gold on Martha Hill. The ore with its low gold content did not seem to them to be minable. The following year, William Nicholl took over four acres of land and named it after a family member. The underground mining of the rock began. The extraction of gold from the rock was simplified in 1882 with the commissioning of the first stone crushing plant.
In 1890 the Waihi Gold Mining Company of London took over the mine. Four years later, the cyanide process for gold extraction was introduced. Its own training facility, the Waihi School of Mines , opened in 1897; it was closed again in 1947. In 1904 the so-called Cornish Pumphouse was built. In 1912 the miners went on strike from May to November.
In 1913, the company built the first hydroelectric power station on the Waikato River near Horahora to supply the mine with electricity.
The old mine was closed in 1952. In around 70 years, a total of 174,160 kilograms of gold and 1,193,180 kilograms of silver had been extracted from over 11,932,000 tons of ore with underground mining. The deepest tunnel was 600 meters deep, 1.6 kilometers long and 30 meters wide. After mining ceased, the mine overflowed with groundwater.
The cessation of the mining operation was the result of the world market price for gold fixed at that time, the uneconomical mining conditions and the completely outdated machine park as well as a lack of workers as a result of the Second World War .
The new Martha mine
With the rise in the price of gold in the 1970s, interest in gold mining in the Martha mine grew again, as other deposits were known here.
In 1976, Waihi Mining and Development received an exploration license at Martha Hill. These explorations were intensified in the years to come. A mining license was granted in 1985 and the necessary water rights the following year.
In 1987 the newly founded Waihi Gold Mining Company started operations. First of all, the facilities and areas for dewatering and storage of the removed material were developed in accordance with the license provisions. The first gold was produced on May 15 of the following year, and the mine was officially opened on June 15, but this time as an open pit .
Expansion projects for the mine operation were presented to the public in 1995, after which a further opencast mine was to be opened outside of Waihi .
In 2000 as a whole, around 104,000 ounces of gold and 804,000 ounces of silver were extracted from around one million tons of rock.
By 2007, the Martha mine had a maximum spread of 860 meters in length, 600 meters in width and 250 meters in depth.
The Martha Mine has been gradually shutting down operations since 2007. Further dismantling may take place until 2017, but the facilities are to be continuously dismantled at the same time. There are already plans for the continued use of the claimed areas for the period after 2017.
During the licensing, very high requirements were placed on environmental protection, water drainage and the recultivation of the areas used. The non-profit Martha Trust will continue this task in the long term, even after the mine has existed. The company was obliged to provide the trust with the appropriate financial resources.
The mine can be visited by visitors. In 1999 the Mine Martha education center was opened for this purpose. Around 12,000 visitors are guided through the facilities every year.
literature
- Information brochures from the Martha Mine Education Center and the Waihi Information Center (without ISBN).
Web links
- Martha Mine Company website (English)
Coordinates: 37 ° 23 ′ 7.7 ″ S , 175 ° 50 ′ 32.9 ″ O